


practice

by flintsjohn



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Fluff and Smut, M/M, Michael has abandonment issues as big as the state of new mexico, Polyamory, Soft boys being soft, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 15:40:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18607510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flintsjohn/pseuds/flintsjohn
Summary: sequel tolearning how to watch two points in space at the same time.snippets from michael, kyle and alex's relationship, featuring: sexual frustration, first times, first dates, michael going back to school, and moving in together.





	practice

**Author's Note:**

> i'm back with more mylex, mostly because i'm in pain after the finale and need an outlet. many of you asked for a sequel to my first mylex fic (linked in the summary), so here it is! you don't _need_ to have read that first to understand this one, but it's probably best. there's not much plot in this, just my boys being soft and in love. also, as always, i have no idea how america works, i'm just winging it.  
> big big thank you to @bisexualalienblast for letting me borrow the "michael goes back to school and his bfs support him" part from an ask she got (i can't find it right now, but thank you amanda i love you!)  
> title is from black sails again, the reply to the previous title.  
> kudos and comments always welcome, and you're also welcome to come yell at me over rnm, possible s2 plots, and malex/mylex/kylex on tumblr!

“It’s been a _month_ ,” Michael whines, dropping back on the bed with his arms spread open.

“We said no sex until we’re _all_ ready, Guerin.” Alex rolls his eyes at Michael’s pout and moves to where Kyle is sitting at the edge of the bed. _Oh yeah_ , Michael thinks. They’d agreed. In fact, he’d been the one to suggest that stupid fucking rule, and right now he deeply regrets it. He’d reasoned that with all of them being so inexperienced in relationships in general and polyamory in particular, they’d need to figure out everyone’s place before moving on to sex. He hadn’t considered that it might take this long. By anyone else’s standards, a month isn’t long. To Michael, it feels like a lifetime, mostly because he has two of the hottest men he’s ever met in his life as boyfriends, and he’s still _not getting any_.

So, he sulks. He crosses his arms and pouts as he watches Alex sit with one leg on each side of Kyle’s body and drop a kiss at the nape of his neck. “Hey, it’s ok. We’ll wait.”

Behind them, Michael makes an affronted sound, but Alex just repeats, “We’ll _wait_.”

Kyle snorts and relaxes in Alex’s arms, leaning back against his body. “Thank you.” He turns his head to catch Alex’s lips in a gentle kiss, Alex bending forward a little to make the angle less awkward. There’s silence from where Michael is sitting, before he huffs and they can feel the bed shifting beneath them as he moves to join them.

“You’re making this very hard, just so you know,” he sighs, dropping a kiss to Kyle’s shoulder. 

“’m sorry,” comes from Kyle, voice low and scared. Michael raises his gaze to meet Kyle’s eyes and shakes his head minutely. It breaks Michael’s heart to see him like this. In the last few weeks he’s found himself falling for Kyle more and more each day, and falling _hard_. Sure, there’s a lot of resentment there still, because it’s not that easy to erase ten years of history, but they’re getting there.

He jokes around, but the truth is that he knows full well how lucky he is, and he knows he should be grateful for the fact that they’re even able to talk about this. The last month hasn’t been easy on any of them. They’d talked after that night, sure, but figuring out how to be in a relationship had been hard for him when one other person was involved, let alone two. He still says the wrong things all the time, still hurts Alex without meaning to, still pushes Kyle away at the smallest mistake. So, he knows he should thank the heavens that they’re able to have these easy moments, but he’s frustrated. Calling them blue balls would be an understatement, because they’re well on their way to a deep black by now. It doesn’t matter, because he refuses to pressure Kyle into doing something he’s not ready for yet, not even if it means he’ll have to wait another year for it.

“Don’t. You’re not ready, it’s okay.” 

Michael lets out a surprised grunt when Kyle kisses him, hard and deep, body moving forward like a wave, away from the cradle of Alex’s legs to press himself up against Michael’s body, blanketing him. Kyle’s hips press down into Michael’s, cocks dragging together in a way that has Michael whimpering in mere seconds.

“Fuck, that’s not fair,” Michael moans when Kyle finally draws back to catch his breath. His eyes are still closed and there’s a delicious blush rising on his cheeks that Kyle just has to kiss. “How am I supposed to keep my hands to myself?”

“You’ll be fine, stop whining.” Alex laughs as he takes Kyle’s hand and drags him off the bed. “C’mon, you’re gonna be late for your shift, and I have a doctor’s appointment to get to.”

“Wait, you’re just gonna leave me here?” Michael shifts on his elbows, pout back on his now puffy lips as he stares at both his partners from the bed. His hair’s a mess and he’s still flushed from Kyle’s kiss. It doesn’t seem to deter them, though, because they change clothes and Kyle grabs his bag, and they’re out of the door not five minutes later, quick kisses pressed to each of Michael’s cheeks in turn.

“Can I at least jerk off?” He yells after them. All he gets in response is the door slamming shut.

*

“Are you sure?” Michael asks two weeks later, body sinking into the bed under the weight of Kyle’s body. The doctor had come back from a late evening shift, body strung tight with tension that begged for release. He hadn’t said a word before dragging both Alex and Michael into the bedroom.

“Yes.” Kyle pulls Michael’s face back for another kiss, groaning when the man pulls back again.

“But are you _sure_ sure?”

“ _Yes_ , Michael, can you please just let me kiss you now?” Kyle heaves a put upon sigh, ignoring Alex’s chuckle coming from the head of the bed. He buries his hands into Michael’s curls and smiles when the other man tilts his head up to accept the kiss, mouth opening to welcome Kyle’s tongue as he deepens the kiss. 

They kiss for what feels like hours. Michael loses himself in the heady feeling of Kyle’s body pressing into him, hard and solid. When they finally pull back from each other, he almost startles because Alex has taken the opportunity of both of them being distracted to undress, and he’s setting his prosthesis to the side, naked and looking like every wet dream Michael’s ever had put together. He swallows and shifts under Kyle, groaning when his hard cock brushes against Kyle’s. 

There’s a pause when Alex joins them, all of them exchanging doubtful look before erupting in nervous laughter. Despite being all ready to do this, their inexperience in the situation still overrides their eagerness. Michael beckons Alex close, pulling him down for a kiss. It’s brief, and Michael is pulling back soon enough to nudge Alex in Kyle’s direction. He swallows a moan while they kiss. He extricates himself from under Kyle and moves to grab lube and condoms, leaving the whole strip next to the pillows with a shrug – who knows how many they’ll actually need. As Kyle and Alex continue kissing, he takes his shirt and jeans off, throwing them carelessly to the side.

“Alright, that’s enough. Valenti, strip.” He bites down a grin at the annoyed look on Kyle’s face and settles against the headboard, a hand curled loosely around his cock as Kyle stands to undress. He smiles when Alex joins him, leg thrown over both of his own as he wraps his hand around Michael’s.

“I missed you,” Alex murmurs against Michael’s neck, biting down on his pulse point and making him groan.

“I’m right here, darling,” Michael says, voice low and raw just from having Alex’s naked body pressed against his own again.

“Not what I meant.” Alex shifts so he can sit in Michael’s lap. He bats Michael’s hand away from his cock as he starts grinding down on him. Michael’s hands close automatically around his hips, guiding his movements. Alex gasps when he feels Kyle press against his back, hand trailing down his chest to close around his cock.

“Starting without me?”

“Never.” The word leaves Alex’s mouth along with a moan, hips rising up into Kyle’s grip and then back into the hard length pressing against the small of his back. Beneath Alex, Michael studies both of them with heavy lidded eyes, teeth biting down on his lower lip every time Kyle’s knuckles brush against his cock. He gets tired of watching soon enough, reaching over to grab the lube he’d dropped on the mattress.

“Who’s first?”

The other two men roll their eyes at him in unison. “Do you have to be so crude?” Kyle glares at him, but he doesn’t stop touching Alex.

“What? I’ve waited long enough.”

Alex turns his head into Kyle’s neck, suppressing a laugh. “Excuse him, Kyle, he gets needy when he doesn’t get fucked often enough.”

“Hey!”

Kyle ignores Michael’s affronted cry, but his hand on Alex’s cock slows to a stop as he stares at Michael heatedly. He swallows and drops a kiss to Alex’s shoulder, exchanging a look with the man. “Do you mind if I-?”

“Go ahead.” Alex grins and moves from Michael’s lap to lie down next to them, resuming the pace on his cock with his own hand as he watches Kyle settle between Michael’s spread thighs.

“Hey there, Doc,” Michael smiles up at him, humming against Kyle’s lips as he’s pulled into a bruising kiss. Michael has to pull back quickly to breathe when Kyle presses wet fingers to his hole. He keens, high in his throat, as he clutches Kyle tight, arms wrapped around his shoulders. When Kyle finally presses a finger into him, Michael takes a moment to breathe around the sensation. It’s been a long while since he’s done this, even by himself, and he makes sure he’s relaxed before nodding at Kyle to go on. A second finger quickly joins the first, and soon they’re curling into him just so and have Michael moan, head thrown back. Kyle’s fingers are longer than his own and Alex’s, but nimble where Alex’s are thick. They stretch him open just right, leaving him panting by the time Kyle retreats. 

As Kyle gets the condom on, Michael reaches for Alex, needing him close. Alex shushes him when Michael opens his mouth to apologize for leaving him to watch, and then he’s kissing him, tongue pushing greedily against Michael’s. It’s not enough to distract him from Kyle pushing into him, but neither take their hands off of Michael’s body, hands running continuously over his chest and arms and thighs in a soothing movement. Michael gets a little lost in it, the push and pull of Kyle’s thrusts and the feeling of Alex’s hands on him, so he doesn’t immediately realize what Kyle’s breathy cry of Alex’s name is about.

He opens his eyes to see Alex has moved behind Kyle, who’s leaning fully on Michael now. His eyes widen and he moans when he realizes that Alex is pushing into Kyle. It drives Kyle’s shaft even deeper into Michael’s body and makes them all groan. 

It’s Alex that modulates the pace from there, guiding Kyle’s hips, back into his cock and forward to press into Michael. His teeth graze the pulse on Kyle’s neck and the hand that isn’t clutching Kyle’s side is resting Michael’s thigh. Kyle lets himself be led, face buried in Michael’s neck. He’s leaning hard on his forearm so he can lift his body just enough to wrap his other hand around Michael’s cock. On his part, Michael is having a hard time breathing. Kyle’s cock is pressing into him just right, not to mention the warm grip of his hand around him, and the spot where Alex is touching him burns like he’s being branded. He’s the first to come, followed closely by Kyle when his body seizes up around him. He almost sobs through the overstimulation of having Alex still thrusting into Kyle and driving Kyle’s shaft continuously into his prostate through his climax.

They collapse in a heap against each other, bodies heaving in breaths. They find the strength to disentangle themselves from each other after a long minute, moving away just long enough to discard the used condoms before curling around each other again. Michael can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of his chest after a second, receiving questioning groans from the other two men.

“Man, I can’t believe I had to wait so long for that. Can we go again?”

Kyle barely raises his head from where it’s pressed into the pillow, close to Michael’s. “Are you sure you’re not some kind of sex addict?”

Michael pouts at him, and Kyle just has to kiss that away. When he pulls back, Michael tilts his head and asks, “So was that a no?”

He laughs again when Alex slams his pillow on his face with a groan.

*

“They’re all staring at us.”

“Yes, and?” 

“They’re _staring_ ,” Michael hisses, hand slipping from Alex’s grip. Alex’s face falls and Michael’s heart breaks a little. He sighs, pressing his fingers into his eyes. “I’m sorry. Baby, I’m sorry. I’m not ashamed of us.”

“But?” Kyle supplies from where he’s sitting next to Alex on the other side of the booth. Their hands are still locked together. It’s the first time they’re all out together in public since their relationship started, and they’re all a little nervous, but none of them actually expected for Michael to be the one to worry about what people were thinking.

“I’m not _used_ to this.” Michael grits his teeth and glowers at the Pony’s patrons throwing them baffled looks. He’s this close to asking if they’ve never seen men holding hands before.

“If you want to leave-“

“No,” Michael spits out. He reaches for Alex’s hand again and looks at him stubbornly. “I won’t let them ruin our first date.”

Alex smiles at him tentatively as Kyle nods in agreement. Their drinks arrive a second later. Maria stands next to the table with her hands on her hips after she puts down the glasses, glaring at Alex.

“Uh, hi Maria?”

“ _Hi Maria_? That’s all you have to say?” She stares at him and waves a hand to encompass the whole table. “Unbelievable. When were you gonna tell me?”

“Um, it’s still pretty recent.”

“How long?”

“Two months?”

“ _Two months_?” She shrieks, making all three men flinch. “You’ve been with both Valenti _and_ Guerin for two months?”

“DeLuca,” Michael starts after clearing his throat. “No offense, I’m sure Alex deserves you tearing him a new one-“ he ignores Alex’s affronted _hey_ “- but this is kinda our first date all together and we just wanted something easy.”

Maria’s eyes soften at that. With another pointed look at Alex that clearly states _I want details_ later and a wink at Michael and Kyle, she leaves them alone. The rest of the night is spent comfortably enough (Michael is pretty sure Maria has a hand in that), drinking and laughing. They even stand and dance to a couple of songs when they’re tipsy enough to not give a fuck about who’s staring. It’s the first of many dates.

*

Michael has never been so stressed in his life. He’s pacing back and forth between the cabin’s kitchen where his laptop is sitting on the table and the living room where Kyle and Alex are sprawled on the couch, Alex sitting with his legs in Kyle’s lap. He can’t even enjoy the sight because he’s too busy running his hands through his curls frantically, and he’s pretty sure both his boyfriends are a hair’s breadth away from just knocking him out to get him to stay _still_ for a second.

It’s not entirely his fault – the acceptance lists for UNM are going up today, any minute, and he’s wanted this for so long. After they visited Denver and their relationship changed, he’d researched closer universities, and finally settled on the one that had already accepted him all those years ago. During the past months, he’s been studying hard to get to a point where he can be admitted with a high enough score. Sure, he’s a genius, but college doesn’t rely on intelligence alone to make its choice on who gets in. Kyle, being the only one who actually attended college, helped him get his essay just right, and Alex kept him on task when he couldn’t focus long enough to find the right words. He’s ready. The question now is – did he make it?

“What time is it?” he asks for the hundredth time. He ignores the pitying look Alex throws his way as he checks his phone. He steels himself and walks back to the computer, closing his eyes for a second and sending a prayer up to the powers that be before he refreshes the page. His breath catches in his throat as he reads through the newly posted list.

“Michael?” Kyle’s voice drifts to his ears, but he sounds far away. There’s a buzzing sound growing louder in his ears as his chest tightens.

“Babe, are you ok?” Michael jumps when Alex’s hand lands on his shoulder. He has to blink away the tears when he meets Alex’s worried eyes.

“I got in,” he whispers. His words get caught in his throat and come out so low that he has to repeat them for Kyle and Alex to understand. “I got in. Full ride.”

The room goes eerily quiet for all of three seconds before Alex throws himself at Michael and Kyle jumps up from the couch to join them. They’re both yelling excitedly and Michael laughs, lets them pull him into the biggest bear hug as he scrubs his hands over his face and blinks away the tears.

“We’re so proud of you,” Alex murmurs when they’ve calmed down. He presses a kiss into Michael’s temple as Kyle echoes the feeling, body pressed tight against Michael’s.

“Thank you.” Michael’s voice is still a little choked, but he powers on, “I wouldn’t have made it without you two.”

“Yes, you would have. Because you’re a genius,” Kyle says proudly. He grins at Michael and smacks a kiss on his cheek, “But it was our pleasure, love.”

“Ugh, no.”

“What? Is Alex the only one allowed to use pet names?”

“Yes,” Michael and Alex say in unison, and they both laugh at Kyle’s affronted expression.

“So I can’t call you darling?”

“Nope.”

“Sweetpea?” He tries again. Michael rolls his eyes and pushes him away, fingers slipping into Alex’s as he drags him towards the bedroom.

“My little love muffin?” There’s a groan from the bedroom that sounds half irritated and half aroused, and Kyle hurries in the other room, calling out, “Hey, don’t start on the celebratory sex without me!”

*

Alex and Kyle drive Michael up to Albuquerque before the semester starts and help him get settled in his dorm. By some stroke of luck, he got a single room – he was already dreading the thought of having to share his space with some 18-year-old dudebro. Putting Michael’s meager possessions away takes less than an hour, especially with all three of them working together, and then they’re off exploring the campus.

Michael fidgets the whole time, barely paying attention to where they’re going. By the time evening comes and Alex and Kyle have to get back, he’s teetering on the edge of full blown panic. He walks his boyfriends back to Alex’s jeep in silence, teeth worrying at his bottom lip.

“Michael?” Alex calls, in a tone that suggests it’s not the first time he’s tried to get his attention. Michael focuses on him with a guilty little grin. “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, of course.” He tries to smile, but he’s fully aware that it comes out pained. Alex frowns and moves to hug him, not stepping back until he feels Michael’s body relax into his.

“We’re only a phone call away,” Kyle says when he gets his own turn at hugging Michael goodbye. He presses a kiss into Michael’s hair before drawing back.

“And you’ll visit?” Michael hates the way his voice comes out, small and needy, but he can’t help the way his heart seizes in his chest.

“Any time we can, love.” Alex smiles and steals one last kiss from him before Kyle is pushing him towards the car. He rolls the window down when he’s in, blowing a kiss to Michael even as Kyle starts driving away. “I love you!”

Michael smiles and waves at them until the car is far enough. He’s going to make it, he tells himself. He’s just gonna have to take one step at a time, concentrate on his work, and distract himself from the fact that both his boyfriends now live four hours away from him.

*

“You are, by far, the horniest person I have ever met,” Kyle groans. Michael has him cornered against the counter at the Pony, thigh pressing into his crotch and making him gasp. He’s been back on Spring break for all of three hours, and he’s not wasting any time.

“Hmm, you love it.” Michael grins when he feels Kyle’s cock twitch in his pants.

“Stop that, we’re in the middle of the bar.”

“Hasn’t stopped you before.” Michael drops his head to mouth at Kyle’s neck.

“That was – _ah, fuck_ – that was _one time_ , and you’d been dirty talking me for an hour,” he grits through his teeth, trying to push Michael back.

“Oh, come on, darling, it’s been a month and a half, don’t leave me high and dry.” Michael honest to God pouts at him, making Kyle roll his eyes.

“Well, if someone weren’t away being a little genius…”

“And if someone just moved in with me-“ Michael’s eyes go wide and he shuts his mouth, teeth clicking together. Kyle doesn’t have the time to process the words because Alex joins them, knowing grin on his lips.

“Are you two fighting again?”

“They’re fighting?” Maria’s voice comes from behind the bar. There’s a quizzical look on her face as she looks between the three men.

“Ah, you see, my good friend, there’s a fine line between fighting, flirting, and fucking when it comes to these two.” Alex smiles at his boyfriends and hops on the free stool next to them.

“Gross,” Maria wrinkles her nose and frowns at them, “Don’t you dare have sex in my restrooms. Or anywhere in my bar, for that matter.”

Michael salutes her with a dirty little grin, but deflates as soon as she walks across the counter to serve a patron. 

“Want to tell me what that was about?” Kyle asks. He moves back so he can sit on a stool and drags Michael in between his legs, locking him in so he can’t escape. By the look on his face, that seems to be exactly what Michael is planning on doing.

“What was what?” Alex asks. 

“ _Nothing_ ,” Michael says forcefully, glowering at Kyle. The unimpressed look he gets back from the doctor tells him just how ineffective he’s being.

“Fine. I miss you two when I’m at school, ok? I just thought-“ he shrugs with a sigh, looking anywhere but at the two men staring at him, “I just thought, if you moved up there with me…” He trails off. In a way, they’d already been living together, sharing Alex’s cabin whenever they’re all in town. Michael is pretty sure Kyle stays there most days, even when he’s away. This, though, is a step too far. There’s silence on Kyle and Alex’s part, and he starts fidgeting with a loose thread on Kyle’s shirt.

“Michael-“ Alex starts, tone gentle and soothing. It makes Michael want to bolt even more.

“Forget it, alright, it’s fine. It was a stupid idea.” He tries to move away from Kyle, but his boyfriend is having none of it. He tightens his hold around Michael’s hips and brings his hands up to caress Michael’s chest. Michael relaxes immediately under the touch, his eyelids fluttering as he inhales deeply.

“It’s not stupid. We miss you too.”

“So much,” Alex cuts in, hand rising to grip the back of Michael’s neck the way he knows will have Michael go boneless.

“Look, let’s just go home, discuss it there. We can figure something out,” Kyle promises. He presses a kiss to Michael’s forehead before releasing him and hopping down from the stool. He pays for all their drinks, waving away the other two’s protests, and then he’s dragging them out, one hand per boyfriend to tug them along.

When they get back to the cabin, though, Michael is successful in derailing their plans to talk, at least for another hour. He’d thought that waiting for Kyle to be ready had been hard, but it had nothing on being away from both his boyfriends, alone in a different town while knowing they were at home together. Michael has _needs_.

“ _Fuck_ , I really missed you,” he groans when Alex finally bottoms out inside of him, back arched and fingers clutching the pillow under his head. 

“Missed you too, baby,” Alex mumbles against the skin of Michael’s chest, lips brushing against a nipple and driving Michael crazy. He reaches blindly for Kyle, who’s lying beside them, and brings him into a heated kiss as Alex fucks into him, losing himself in the feeling.

After, when they’re flushed and breathless and sweaty, lying in a heap on the bed, Kyle breaches the subject again. “So. Moving to Albuquerque together?”

Michael groans, not moving from where his face is pressed into Kyle’s chest. “Do we really need to do this?”

“Yes, we do,” Kyle says sharply. He takes a deep breath, trying hard not to snap at his boyfriend. He knows Michael, knows full well why he’s trying to avoid talking about this. When he’s calm enough, he tries again. “You know I can’t leave Roswell. I haven’t been at the hospital long enough, they’ll never let me transfer. I don’t even know if there are spots in Albuquerque.”

“I _know_ ,” Michael whines, burrowing his face even deeper against Kyle. 

“And Alex finally found a gig, I don’t think-“

“God, Kyle, I know!” Michael finally draws away from him, sitting up. He drags the sheet close to wrap it around himself like armor. He bites his lip and avoids the other men’s eyes. “I told you, it was just a stupid idea.”

“Michael,” Kyle’s tone is gentle as he shares a look with Alex, who still hasn’t said anything. “I’m not saying I don’t want to. Hell, whenever you’re here it’s like we already live together. I’m just saying it’s not the right time.”

Neither of them touches Michael, knowing him well enough to know that when he gets like this he doesn’t like being touched. They both sit up and study him worriedly until he’s ready to speak again.

“I just-“ Michael closes his eyes, swallowing around the words a couple of times, “I guess I’m scared that with all the time we spend apart, you two will just figure out you don’t need me.”

Alex makes a wounded sound like Michael’s words physically hurt him. He kicks the sheet back and moves to cup Michael’s face in his hands, unable to keep from touching him any longer. “Look at me,” he says, thumbs swiping under Michael’s eyes, “Michael, baby, look at me?”

When Michael finally opens his eyes, he gasps at the expression on Alex’s face. 

“That won’t happen,” Alex says slowly, making sure that each word takes root in Michael’s brain, “Because we love you. Both of us.”

“But-“ Michael is interrupted by Kyle joining them, chin hooked over Michael’s shoulder.

“We wouldn’t be us without you, Michael. It’s all of us or none of us, love.”

It’s a statement to how vulnerable Michael is right now that he doesn’t comment on Kyle’s use of a pet name like he normally would. He nods after a second, realizing that they both probably need the confirmation. He lets them drag him back into a lying position, fitting him between their bodies and keeping him firmly rooted in place. He drifts off to sleep to the feeling of Kyle drawing patterns on his hip.

*

Michael stumbles into the kitchen the next day, barefoot and wearing one of Kyle’s oversized college sweatshirts, rubbing his eyes. His curls are a mess and his features are still soft from sleep, and to Kyle he’s never looked more beautiful. He beckons him over and pushes his chair back from the table so Michael can sit in his lap, a contented purr coming from deep in his chest as he nuzzles Kyle’s cheek.

“Morning,” Kyle grins, dropping a kiss to Michael’s exposed collarbone.

“M’ning,” Michael replies around a yawn, settling more comfortably into Kyle’s body as he reaches for a piece of toast from Kyle’s plate. Kyle watches him eat with a small smile, lazily running his hands up and down Michael’s legs. They’re alone in the kitchen, Alex still asleep in the bedroom. 

They don’t have nearly enough moments like this, just the two of them, so Kyle lets himself enjoy the closeness. It’s the early morning softness of it all, he reasons, that makes the words tumble out of his mouth.

“Love you,” he mumbles into Michael’s hair, eyes closed. He feels Michael freeze under him and has an apology ready on his lips when he draws back, but Michael is staring at him, wide-eyed and blushing, and Kyle swallows it down.

“You do?” Kyle’s heart seizes at how small Michael looks, and how hopeful. 

“I do.” 

“Me too,” Michael says softly. Michael and Alex had fallen into an easy enough pattern of saying it quite often not long after they'd gotten together, and Kyle and Alex had confessed to loving each other a while back, and now say it often enough. But there's always been something not quite right for Michael in not being able to say it to Kyle, too. Having him say it first unlocks the indecision lingering in his mind. He presses feather-light kisses to Kyle’s face before settling back into his lap, head pillowed on Kyle’s shoulder. “I love you, too.”

*

As they’d discussed, they don’t move in together. After Spring break, Michael goes back to Albuquerque alone to finish his semester. Alex and Kyle do visit more often, though, and when Michael is back for the summer they eventually do end up all officially moving into the cabin with Alex. Michael busies himself with renovations over the summer, designing and building new rooms so they can have more space.

By the time the new school year rolls around, he’s a little more settled and confident in their relationship. When he mentions that to Alex and Kyle, the latter jokingly tells him that it’s only taken him a year and a half to get it into his head that they’re not going to leave him. He’s not so blind to his own abandonment issues that he can’t concede to that.

He works his ass off so he can graduate in two years and be home for good. He makes it, even if he almost gives up three times. In May, finally, he gets to walk on stage to receive his degree to his whole family cheering – Isobel and Maria yelling at the top of their lungs as they hug; Kyle and Alex beaming at him; Max clapping and Liz filming the whole thing. He joins them as soon as the ceremony is over, tipping his graduate cap as he would his cowboy hat. Alex pulls him into a kiss in front of everyone, closely followed by Kyle. 

They go for a celebratory dinner, after. There’s drinks, and food, and laughter. Michael looks around the table feeling his heart grow two sizes. Maria and Isobel are lost in their own little world, whispering to each other. Max and Liz, as always, are making heart eyes at each other and being all-around gross. On either side of him, Alex and Kyle are a reassuring presence, bodies turned to face him even as they hold conversations with their other friends. For the first time in a long, long time, Michael feels true, unadulterated happiness.


End file.
